


The Fens Apartment Ghost

by cyndercrys



Series: That Wicked Trilogy [2]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Ghosts, Halloween, Injury, light Violence, mostly just holiday shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 10:25:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16931517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyndercrys/pseuds/cyndercrys
Summary: It's Halloween night in Diamond City! After trick-or-treating has ended, Renee decides to head to a supposedly haunted apartment building, much to Gene's dismay. Renee insists she doesn't believe in ghosts, but she might just change her mind.





	The Fens Apartment Ghost

**Author's Note:**

> I know it's December but I completely forgot I hadn't yet uploaded it here.

“Have a good evening!” Renee waved at the group of kids as they walked off with their parents and bags of candy. “Cute costumes.”

“They were. Looks like we have some more already.” Gene leaned against the doorjamb leading into _Wicked Aesthetics_.

Noodle wriggled his way between them and barked at the newcomers. He wagged his tail when they laughed and petted him on their way to the store. “Well, if it isn’t the Silver Shroud, and… Renee, are you…?” Piper tilted her head when they got closer. “Renee, are you _seriously_ dressed up as Gene?”

“Hell yeah I am!” Renee crossed her arms with a grin. “And I made Noodle a Z0E costume!”

The Nightstriker sat down awkwardly thanks to the blue cardboard boxes around his body. He barked and nearly tossed his head laser off. “Boof,” he snuffled, hissing.

Renee had pulled her hair back into a bun at the base of her neck, giving the illusion it was much shorter than it actually was. With the help of a few bobby pins and _plenty_ of gel, she even managed to give herself the swooping hair point Gene always had. All in all, minus the black hair and obvious height difference, it wasn’t a bad attempt.

Gene of course donned her usual Silver Shroud costume that she wore each year. She flicked her hat up to see better and smiled. “I see the Grognak costume is working out.”

Shaun nodded. “Yeah! Thanks, Miss Gene!”

While Renee put the rest of their candy into Nat and Shaun’s bags, Piper got Gene’s attention. “Did you hear that the guards have already had to stop six teenagers from going to that old apartment building?”

“Damn it, I didn’t think anyone still told stories about that place…” Gene rubbed the back of her neck with a sigh. “I remembah when we all used to scare each othah with stories of the ghost.”

“Ghost? What ghost?” Renee popped a gumdrop in her mouth. “Ghosts aren’t real anyway, everyone knows that.”

“Oh really? Then obviously you’ve nevah heard of the Fens Apahtment Ghost.” Gene quirked an eyebrow. “They say that whoevah goes into that old apahtment building is nevah seen again.”

Renee rolled her eyes. “You don’t _actually_ believe all that, do you?”

Gene and Piper shared a glance. The reporter shrugged. “I don’t know, there have been stories about it since before I got here. Gene knows more about it than I do.”

“Stories have been around since even before me. And I was born heah.” Gene shook her head and took her hat off to scratch at her scalp. “I’ve been by it, but I’ve nevah been inside. I don’t wanna take a chance with any ghosts.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Ghosts aren’t real, Gene.” Renee shrugged out of Gene’s bomber jacket since they were finished greeting trick-or-treaters. “I’ll prove it. I’ll go to that apartment building myself and prove that there’s no such thing as ghosts.”

Nat grabbed at her leg. “You can’t! The ghost is gonna get you and you’ll never come back! The ghost is scarier than the Institute!”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” Renee grunted as she tried to walk to the stairs, but having Nat around her shin made it difficult. “Piper, control your sister!”

Instead Shaun dove for her other leg.

This knocked Renee off balance and she pinwheeled her arms before falling back to the floor with a thud. As she started to get up, Noodle came over and licked her face. The kids giggled at her struggle and stood, running back to their parents.

“Short stack, even _I_ wouldn’t go in theah.” Gene crossed her arms.

“What, too scared?” Renee shoved herself to her feet and brushed off her shirt.

“N-no, I just…”

Nate laughed, breaking into their conversation. “Well, I’m sure you two can solve this on your own. Come on, kids. Let’s head back home.” He smiled at Gene. “Thanks for the candy.”

“No problem!” She waved as they left.

Once the door was shut, Renee took the chance to sneak up behind Gene and pounce on her back. “Boo!”

Gene squeaked in surprise and whirled around. “Don’t do that!”

“You _are_ scared. Gene, you don’t have to be scared of something that doesn’t exist. Ghosts are like aliens: they’re not real.”

“Ghosts are _nothing_ like aliens, and they both exist!” Gene huffed and took off her Silver Shroud coat.

Renee was already halfway up to the apartment. “Well I’m going to this haunted apartment building with or without you, so hurry it up.”

Gene groaned as she went up the steps. She knew that once Renee had her mind set, there was hardly any changing it. “This is a mistake…”

* * *

The abandoned Fens apartment building in question was still mostly intact, at least from the outside. Renee flicked on the flashlight in her hand. “Okay, we go up as high as we can and then come back down. That should prove there’s no ghost and y’all are just pansies.”

Gene watched her shove the door open. “I don’t know, short stack… I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“That would be the fear of the unknown.” Renee bashed her shoulder against the old wood. “You need to be more like me.” Another slam. “I don’t fear anything.” Another. “Once you conquer fear.” Finally, the door broke apart from its hinges. “You can conquer anything. See?”

“Yeah, I’ll remembah that the next time you’re screaming about a radroach.”

Renee frowned and stepped over the broken door. She waved her flashlight around the lobby. “Looks pretty normal to me.”

Gene turned her own flashlight on and joined her. “I guess it does. Huh. I was hoping for something…different.”

“Well, let’s go.”

With Renee in the lead, they walked down the first-floor hallways. Several doors were closed, though the few that were open showcased skeletons of previous tenants. “Damn… Suppose they died in the blast?”

“Must’ve.” Gene stopped and peered into one room. “U-uh, short stack?”

“What?” Renee doubled back to join her.

“Did the bombs leave notes of blood?”

Renee shone her flashlight at the wall. Written on the peeling wallpaper were the words, “ _The Ghost Will Find You_ ” in what did appear to be blood—or rather, dried blood. She rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Oh please. That’s probably just a prank from someone else who came through here. It’s fine.”

As they turned, a corpse fell from the ceiling in front of them.

Renee screamed and leapt behind Gene, who brandished the flashlight like a club. Once the corpse stopped moving, Gene straightened. “Not scared of anything, huh?”

“It startled me!” Renee cleared her throat. “This is probably just a prank too.” She shoved her way past the hanging corpse and continued down the hallway.

At the end of the corridor, they finally found the door to the stairs. Yet when Renee opened it, she only found stairs leading down, as if they were on the top floor. She blinked. “Gene, how many floors did you say this building had?”

“Probably five or so.”

“And we entered on the first floor, right?”

Gene stood next to her. “I told you this place was haunted!”

“No, it’s just an illusion. Somebody’s really getting a kick out of this. Come on.” Renee began to go down.

Their footsteps echoed on the old metal stairs. “You know, one Halloween my sisters and I were dared to go to this old factory on the edge of town. They didn’t want to go, but I did, and you know what I found? Some Ghouls just having a grand old time scaring everyone to death. I have a feeling that’s exactly what’s going on here. So you’ll see that I’m right and there’s no such thing as ghosts.” Renee shoved open the door to the third floor. “Right Gene?”

There was no response.

“Gene?” She turned around. Gene was nowhere to be seen. “Gene, where’d you get off to?” She shined her flashlight back into the stairwell but couldn’t find a trace of her. “Gene!”

Somewhere deeper in the building, Renee heard a scream. “Gene!” She took off running down the hallway. “Gene, I’m coming!”

Yet as she ran, she noticed the opposite end of the hallway getting farther and farther away. “Wh-what the hell…?”

_“You’re never going to find your friend…”_

“Who said that?” She stopped and whirled around, the beam of her flashlight swinging with her.

_“You’re never going to find her…”_

Renee narrowed her eyes. “Gene, this isn’t funny!”

_“Run.”_

Though she didn’t make a habit of listening to disembodied voices, she didn’t need to be told twice. She continued running down the hallway and ducked into the first utility closet she found. Of course she wasn’t expecting it to drop off to the floor below her and fell with a shriek of surprise. A broken bureau caught her and smashed as she landed.

She groaned and picked herself out of the debris. “God damn, that’s gonna hurt tomorrow…” She straightened her jacket.

_“Renee!”_

“Gene, stay where you are!” She stumbled out of the room and tried to follow where she’d heard the voice. Her flashlight beam flickered and went out. “Damn it, come on!” She slammed it against her palm but it stayed dark.

 _“Renee!”_ Gene called again, weaker this time.

The redhead tossed the flashlight and kept running in the semi-darkness. She blasted through the door at the end of the hallway and found herself at the top of a sweeping staircase leading down into what almost looked like a ballroom. And lying at the bottom was Gene. “Gene!”

“Short stack, theah you are!” Gene turned toward her. “I’ve been looking for you, wheah the hell did you go?”

“Where did _I_ go? Where did _you_ go?! You were right behind me on the staircase and then you were gone!” Renee knelt next to her. “Never mind. Are you okay?”

Gene shook her head with a wince. “Not really.” Her eyes widened. “Short stack, behind you…”

Renee stood and whirled around. A man stood behind her, smiling. “You! You’re the one who’s been pulling all those pranks on us! You bastard, someone could get seriously hurt because of you!” In her anger she swung her fist at his head.

The man didn’t even flinch as her arm went right through him. His grin widened. _“You don’t believe in ghosts.”_

Renee swallowed hard and swung again with the same result. “Th-that’s not possible, you can’t be a…”

He cackled and rushed toward her, breezing through her body easily. _“Do you believe now?”_

Renee swayed on her feet. “G-Gene, I think that’s a…” She fell forward as everything went black.

* * *

“Come on, short stack, wake up!”

Renee forced her eyes open and blinked to bring her vision into focus. She recognized Gene leaning over her. “What happened? Where am I?” She pushed herself into a sitting position. Her head ached and she reached up to massage her temples.

“Well, you fainted. And we’re still in the apahment building.”

She suddenly remembered. “Th-the ghost!” She whirled around. “That was an actual fucking ghost!”

“I told you!” Gene frowned.

“Let’s get out of here before it comes back.” Renee got to her feet. “Well come on!”

“Yeah, easiah said than done.”

Renee noticed her girlfriend cradled her leg. “What’d you do?” She asked, kneeling next to Gene.

“I heard a crash and it startled me, so I went off on the last step wrong and managed to twist my ankle. It, uh, really hurts. A lot, actually. I…don’t really think I can walk.” Gene sighed in aggravation. “Sorry.”

“That crash was probably me falling through the floor.” Renee pried Gene’s hands away from her ankle. She flinched as Gene bit off a cry of pain at the first hint of pressure. “Might be broken. But we have to get out of here and quite frankly I can’t carry you. So it’s gonna hurt like a bitch but you gotta try.”

Gene nodded and clenched her jaw. With Renee’s help she managed to get to her feet. Her nostrils flared and she hissed through her teeth at the first step. “You sure you can’t carry me?” She chuckled dryly.

“Positive.”

It was slow going to the top of the staircase, but eventually they made it. Renee half-dragged Gene toward the door. “Almost there…” She threw it open and they stepped through.

“Wait what.” Renee turned her head. “How are we… I broke the door down!” She ducked out from under Gene’s arm and tried to open the front door again. Somehow they found themselves outside the building. The door she broke off its hinges was now repaired and _very_ locked. “What the hell!”

“It’s haunted. What did you expect?” Gene hobbled toward her. “Can we just get outta heah?”

“Yeah. Let’s head home.” Renee took up a spot at her side and helped her home.

The sun was far below the horizon by the time they arrived at Diamond City, since the going was slow with Gene’s injury. Most everyone in town was home for the night except for a few guards that paid them no mind. They were greeted by both Z0E and Noodle outside the shop. The Assaultron beeped rapidly upon seeing them. “Ma’am!”

“I’ll be fine, Z0E.” Gene gave the robot a weak thumbs up.

Z0E helped Gene upstairs while Renee went for the medical supplies. When she walked up to the apartment, Gene was already sitting on her bed in a loose tank top and sweats. Noodle laid next to her with his head on her thigh. Renee knocked on the wall with a smile. “Well, I see you’ve made a friend.”

“Yeah, well…” Gene petted the snup, smiling as he lifted his chin as a signal for her to scratch him. “I’ve heard that animals can tell when you’re not feeling well and try to help.”

“It’s true. I would know. We had a cat growing up that would _not_ leave me alone whenever I got into scrapes.” Renee sat at the foot of the bed and gingerly pulled Gene’s leg into her lap. She pushed the woman’s pant leg up. “Let me know if I hurt you, okay?”

“Maybe we should just wait for the Mega Surgery Centah to open tomorrow?”

“I’ve dealt with enough injuries on myself to be able to at least help. Besides, who was the one to literally dig a bullet out of you?” Renee smiled and raised an eyebrow.

“Ugh, fine. Just don’t make it worse.” Gene waved her hand.

Renee tried to be gentle as she could during her examination. Still, she could hear each time her girlfriend winced or sucked in a breath of surprise. Noodle even growled at her once. “What are you getting mad at me for?” The Nightstriker simply snuffled and whimpered up at Gene.

Soon enough she finished and grabbed a Stim. Gene shifted. “So, what’s the verdict _Doc_?”

“Well, Miss Dandridge, after much examination and chitchat with my _esteemed_ colleagues—who aren’t nearly as intelligent or talented as myself—” Renee stopped to giggle at the horrible attempt at an English accent she affected. “You’re lucky. It’s just a bad sprain. You should try to stay off it for a while.” She flicked the Stimpak a few times before sliding the needle into Gene’s leg.

Gene remained silent. Renee sighed heavily as she wrapped her ankle. “I’m…sorry. I should’ve listened to you. I just… This is all my fault. If I hadn’t been so stupid you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” She secured the bandage and stood up. “But I guess you were right. Ghosts are real. Or at least that one is.”

“Short stack, it was an accident. Besides, I’m glad we went in theah. I’ve been _dying_ to know what’s inside for years.” Gene gave her a cheeky grin.

Renee frowned. “I’m going to ignore that.” She ran a hand through her hair, stopping when her fingers caught on the hair spike still held in place. She smiled. “You know, I could make this work for me.”

Gene quirked an eyebrow. “Uh… No. Now hurry up and get into your pajamas. I’m exhausted.”

“I can tell. For once you’re actually sleeping with clothes on.”

Minutes later Gene flicked off the lamp and Renee slid into the bed next to her. She had no qualms about shoving Noodle out of the way for cuddles, though he voiced his displeasure. “Sorry, boy. Girlfriends over snuppy friends.”

As she relaxed she could feel her back and shoulders tense up from where she’d fallen onto the bureau. “Tomorrow’s gonna suck.”

“Yeah, but I’ve got you to do everything for me, hm?” Gene smiled in the semi-darkness and kissed her forehead. “I’m kidding.”

“I don’t mind helping out.” Renee craned her neck to press her lips to Gene’s. “By the way, how did you end up at the bottom of that staircase?”

“I was just running around trying to find you and tripped. Maybe the ghost wanted to prove himself to you.” Gene wrapped her arms around Renee and sighed, nuzzling her head. “It’s ovah now so who cares…”

Renee hummed deep in her throat. “Gene?” She whispered.

“…Yeah?”

“I love you.”

Gene tightened her embrace ever so slightly. “I love you too, short stack.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Visit my Tumblr and see more content about TWF and Renee Jones, such as fanart, sneak-peeks, and more!](https://cyndercrys.tumblr.com)


End file.
